


Mistakes We Knew We Were Making

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Grant County Series - Karin Slaughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-24
Updated: 2006-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1629410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>being friends is hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistakes We Knew We Were Making

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, this isn't even a little the story anotherjuxtaposition wanted. but i wanted her to know that the karin slaughter love is ALIVE AND WELL.
> 
> Written for anotherjuxtaposition

 

 

Sara probably knows she's being watched.

She turns around on her barstool very, very slowly and doesn't look back over her shoulder. Takes a sip of her drink, then looks up.

Finally, she says, blushing bright, "I shouldn't have called you."

"No," Lena agrees, then rolls her eyes. "I mean, unless I missed the memo that we're friends now." She motions to the bartender for two more of whatever Sara's having, and she hopes that's not a bad decision. Among the many things Lena doesn't know about Sara is the poison she prefers. "But the damage is done now, right? So what's up?"

Sara turns back towards the bar, and Lena has to sit down next to her and lean forward to hear the answer. Which is so long in coming that Lena's halfway through her not-so-terrible whiskey sour when Sara finally says, "Jeffrey's not here."

Lena considers this for a second, then says, "I just thought he'd gone invisible."

Sara groans and rests her forehead against the ball of her upturned hand. "This was so stupid."

"Drink faster and you'll feel better," Lena says. She means it as a joke -- well, sort of -- but Sara doesn't laugh. "I mean, no, really. What's going on?"

"He just--" Sara falters. "Is it always going to be like this? Is he always going to leave me?"

Lena wonders if Sara is drunk, but thinks that asking her to walk a straight line with her fingers on her nose might be somewhat inappropriate. Instead, she says, "He's just in Florida at a conference. He didn't exactly run off with some hooker or something."

"That's not what I meant," Sara says.

"Actually saying what you mean might help." Lena drums her fingers against the bar and tries to be patient. After this, she definitely never has to feel obligated to be nice to Sara again, and that's a pretty liberating idea. So she waits.

"I'm old, you know," Sara says.

"Sure are."

Sara frowns. "I don't think you were supposed to agree with me."

"Oh, really? You should've made that clearer." Lena gestures for another drink. This is going to be a long night, and Sara's got a head start.

"It's just, kids are--"

"Aha!" Lena says, but then feels ridiculous for saying it. "This is about children again? Seriously, you two need to, I don't know, adopt one, or -- hell -- just kidnap one. Anything to make you shut up would be okay."

"I can't kidnap someone's baby."

"You could! I'd help!" Lena says, but then sighs. "All I mean is, you should do something, instead of just talking about how much things aren't how you wish they were."

Sara looks up. "That might have been good advice, Lena."

"Damn. My reputation'll go to hell." Lena's voice softens. "And really, what you need is some friends. I mean, look, there's at least twenty women here to start with."

"This is a lesbian bar, Lena," Sara says, smiling.

Lena smiles back. She'd nodded to Nan on her way in and gestured at Sara with a 'straight people are fucked up, what can you do?' shrug. "Thanks for letting me know."

"But I take your point," Sara finally admits. "You really don't think that, that we... could be friends?"

Lena sighs. "You paying my tab would go a long way, Sara," Lena says, then chews for a second on her lower lip. "I don't think it's that we couldn't, I think it's that neither of us is willing to try hard enough."

"I could try," Sara says very earnestly, and Lena almost laughs at her.

"Yeah, I probably could, too," she says, and finishes her drink, thinking: this might not have been the worst idea ever, after all.

 


End file.
